TO Pride: Saturday

[bigmacbear]

gmjambear and I decided at the last minute to join the RGMC bus to Toronto for Pride this weekend.

We left about 8 AM on Saturday and arrived just before noon. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on King Street West, a few blocks west of St. Andrew station and a few blocks north of the Rogers Centre Skydome.

Saturday afternoon we spent at the festival on Church Street. We got a chance to see djjo and vaneramos and meet Van's daughters for the first time. Then we had brunch at O'Grady's Tap and Grill, which used to be Wilde Oscar's, and which has become the bear bar since the demise of the Toolbox. We met joelbear and sbearluvr there, and had a chat with detailbear and theatrebear as they were going. After brunch we made our way to the HSBC bank in Chinatown East so Gary could use the ATM there. Then we caught the streetcar back to Yonge St. and walked up to the Glad Day bookstore and shopped for a bit, and then returned to the hotel to relax for a bit.

After seeing the bearish sportscaster on Cable Pulse 24 announce there would be a CFL game that evening we decided to go ahead and take the short walk to the Skydome. This was my second and Gary's third CFL game, the Toronto Argonauts vs. the BC Lions. There was a very big bearish fellow sitting in front of us in the stands. The game was up and down all evening, with BC winning in the final minutes due (in my humble opinion) primarily to the number of penalties the Argos racked up. It brought to mind an old chant from high-school football fan days: "Nuts and bolts! Nuts and bolts! We got screwed!"

After the game I was fairly hungry, and we stopped in to a bar and grill called Joe Mama's on King Street opposite the hotel. The food was excellent as was the blues combo. After dinner it was time for bed.

As for Sunday, it gets a post of its own.